Amazon.com Is Granted an Injunction
In barnesandnoble.com Patent Dispute
By SCOTT THURM and REBECCA QUICK
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

A federal district judge in Seattle granted Amazon.com Inc. a preliminary
injunction in a patent dispute, barring rival barnesandnoble.com Inc. from
using a one-click system for online orders.

U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman late Wednesday ordered
barnesandnoble.com to stop using its Express Lane service by Saturday.
Barnesandnoble.com said it would comply with the order and launch a new
service, called Express Checkout, in the next several days so as not to miss
any orders during the crucial holiday shopping season. The company wouldn't
give details on the new service or how it would differ from the current
Express Lane service.

In her ruling, Judge Pechman said barnesandnoble.com could avoid infringing
on Amazon.com's patent "by simply requiring users to take an additional
action to confirm orders placed by using Express Lane." The order bars
barnesandnoble.com from using the one-click system while Amazon.com's case
is pending.

Amazon.com, Seattle, filed suit against barnesandnoble.com on Oct. 20,
claiming that the one-click ordering system infringed on a patent it was
awarded in September. Amazon's one-click system stores a user's billing and
shipping information, so it doesn't have to be re-entered on each visit. In
a statement, Amazon.com founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said the
company had spent "thousands of hours" developing the system before it was
introduced in 1997.

Barnesandnoble.com said it was "disappointed" in the ruling and expected its
position to be upheld on appeal. "We do not intend to sit back and allow
Amazon to stake a claim upon any technology that is widely used," the New
York-based online bookseller said in a statement.